Saturday, December 1, in commemoration of World AIDS Day, features the controversial 1989 film, “Tongues Untied” at 7:30 PM in the Atlas Building, Room 100, at the University of Colorado Boulder with reception beginning at 7 PM. Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, including poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the “Institute of Snap!thology,” where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap. The film closes with obituaries for victims of AIDS and archival footage of the civil rights movement placed next to footage of Black men marching in a gay pride parade.

Elizabeth Fenn, Associate Professor and Driskell Chair in Western American History, will lead a post-screening discussion. Fenn holds a PhD from Yale University. Her field of study is the early American West, focusing on epidemic disease, Native American, and environmental history. Her interest in LGBT history arose many years ago when she first taught a course on the history of epidemic disease and took her class on a field trip to visit the NAMES Project, which was headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the time.

Thanks to support of co-sponsoring departments, these events are free and open to the public but as space is limited RSVPs are required. Please contact Meghan Zibby at Meghan.Zibby@colorado.edu or via phone at 303.492.7143 to RSVP. Additional information can be found at http://jewishstudies.colorado.edu.